Behind the Cover: Just Like Heaven

Shop the inspiration behind our February 2012 cover shoot

This month, the ELLE team and Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon took refuge from life's everyday hustle and bustle on California's sandy coast at a Malibu estate so serene no one wanted to leave. The three-time ELLE cover girl arrived on location—architect Harry Gesner's oceanfront home, built in 1970 as a gift to his wife—wearing laid-back L.A. staples: J Brand jeans, a flowy T-shirt, leather Ralph Lauren riding boots, and a hunter green 3.1 Phillip Lim bag. For the This Means War (out this month) star's cover shoot, stylist (and good friend) Mario Grauso's inspiration was the quintessential beach girl with a smoldering smoky eye and glowing, sun-kissed skin. Photographer Carter Smith captured the actress wearing an embellished Bottega Veneta maillot while catching rays, with her toes in the sand and whitecaps crashing in the backdrop. A regular on the country-music scene, this Tennessee-raised beauty took a break from the shoot to dance to Pitbull's hit "Pause." Then, the mom to Ava, 12, and Deacon, 8, chatted about HBO's Enlightened while she snacked on stuffed portobello mushrooms, chopped vegetable salad, and brownies with milk-chocolate chunks prepared by L.A.'s Love Catering. Later, as the sunlight sliced through the estate's trees, Witherspoon played a sultry bombshell in a pleated mini Miu Miu dress, climbing into Gesner's fully electric 1957 Mercedes 190SL covertible. Before heading out to dinner, Witherspoon gave us a taste of her legendary southern charm: She thanked everyone on set. It's safe to say that once she left, paradise became a little less sweet.

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